From Huntington to Trump: The Civilian Military Imperative for Foreign Policy Professionals

Authors

  • Robert Zimmerman Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59848/18.1207.HV4n1

Keywords:

Civilian Military Relations, Samuel Huntington, Morris Janowitz, Department of Defense, Professionalism, Donald J. Trump, H.R. McMaster

Abstract

This article offers an introduction to Civilian-Military relations for the foreign policy professional (including members of the armed forces). Its author contends that the study of some aspect of Civilian Military relations is warranted for officers seeking command positions that involve analyzing a foreign nation’s institutions. He further argues that examining the state of a military’s professionalization may help analysts to better understand the country they are studying, while allowing them to develop more salient recommendations for the leaders to whom they report. Lastly, he comments on the changing state of Civilian Military relations taking place in the United States under the Administration of President Donald J. Trump.

Author Biography

  • Robert Zimmerman

    The author is a U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Officer on assignment to the InterAmerican Defense College in Washington, D.C. In that capacity, he served as an assistant professor, teaching civilian-military relations and military-media relations, from 2016 to 2018. Professor Zimmerman obtained a B.A. from the University of Maryland in 1983, and a juris doctorate from the University of Baltimore in 1986. After practicing public interest law for several years, he became a Foreign Service Officer in the former U.S. Information Agency in 1993, where he specialized in public diplomacy. Professor Zimmerman transferred to the U.S. Department of State in 1996. The views expressed in this article do not reflect the policies of the U.S. Government or the U.S. Department of State

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Published

2018-06-30

Issue

Vol. 4 (2018): Hemisferio Volume 4

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Zimmerman, Robert. 2018. “From Huntington to Trump: The Civilian Military Imperative for Foreign Policy Professionals”. Hemisferio Revista Del Colegio Interamericano De Defensa 4 (1): 5-22. https://doi.org/10.59848/18.1207.HV4n1.